“To think that Jamerson could compose this entire bassline spontaneously and still be locked into the groove is astounding. That's his genius”: How Motown hit-maker James Jamerson funked up a Christmas classic on this 1968 holiday gem

The Temptations' version of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally recorded in October 1968 and released both as a single and as part of the December ’68 album Merry Christmas From Motown. It also made the group's 1970 side, The Temptations Christmas Card, as well as the top-selling 1973 double-album A Motown Christmas.

The track captures the legendary Jamerson at his peak powers, before personal and health problems began to take their toll. So said Allan Slutsky, author of the epic bass tome Standing in the Shadows of Motown, which he later developed into the 2002 film of the same name.

“It's a smorgasbord of many of the revolutionary techniques and devices he pioneered,” Slutsky told Bass Player in 2016.

The Temptations - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Lyric Video) - YouTube

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“Not to the level of masterworks like Bernadette and I Was Made to Love Her, but a quality performance nonetheless, with a feel similar to other challenging Jamerson tracks, such as Darling Dear, I Second That Emotion, and Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing.”

The track begins with a rubato intro that contains the true revelation of the entire part: Jamerson climbing to the upper-register 10th (F#) on the G string, while playing an open D, at 00:27.

“I've never heard Jamerson use this device. By then, it had made its way onto the bass guitar landscape, so he probably picked it up from hearing it somewhere.”

Tempo starts at 00:32, which contains the song's AA sections, in what is an AABA form. Jamerson immediately establishes several keys to the part, including his use of two eighth-notes on the downbeat of one as the main pulse; pivoting between the root, 5th, and octave; adding arpeggio movement and color tones like the 6th and 2nd/9th for variety; utilizing chromatic approach and passing tones, as well as open strings; and adding his trademark sense of syncopation.

“With a lot of space between the two chord changes, Jamerson is thinking linearly and constantly developing the part, with one interesting exception being the 16th-note run at 00:47, which he restates throughout the track.”

For the song's B section, Jamerson changes his approach. “Because you basically have two chords per measure, he uses shorter phrases as he navigates through the changes. But that doesn't stop him from laying down a deadly cool, highly syncopated figure at 01:27.”

Following the final A section in the AABA form, the track makes its way back to the bridge, or B section, at 01:54, before a return to the final A section at 02:15, which includes the original extended V-chord ending at 02:30 (featuring Jamerson's signature use of above and below approach notes).

Strap in for the outro, at 02:35, which pivots between C and Bb9 chords. Jamerson – likely on his 1962 Fender P-Bass – plays a flurry of ascending and descending arpeggiated figures connected by chromatic movement.

At 02:45, Jamerson grabs the ear with a rising and falling one-and-three-quarter-octave arpeggio figure reminiscent a similarly treacherous span in the chorus of the Gladys Knight version of I Heard It Through the Grapevine – and dig his use of a D on the ‘and’ of two, instead of the anticipated E.

Sums up Slutsky, who also worked on a feature-film-length documentary about Philadelphia's famed Sigma Sound Studios, “To think that Jamerson could compose this entire bassline spontaneously and still be locked into the groove and sound so relaxed is pretty astounding. That's his genius.”